Gaming systems that provide players awards in primary or base games are well known. These gaming systems generally require a player to place a wager to activate a play of the primary game. For many of these gaming systems, any award provided to a player for a wagered-on play of a primary game is based on the player obtaining a winning symbol or a winning symbol combination and on an amount of the wager (e.g., the higher the amount of the wager, the higher the award). Winning symbols or winning symbol combinations that are less likely to occur typically result in larger awards being provided when they do occur.
Bonus or secondary games are also known in gaming systems. Such gaming systems usually provide an award to a player for a play of one such bonus game in addition to any awards provided for any plays of any primary games. Bonus games usually do not require an additional wager to be placed by the player to be initiated. Bonus games are typically initiated or triggered upon an occurrence of a designated triggering symbol or designated triggering symbol combination in the primary game. For instance, a gaming system may initiate or trigger a bonus game when a bonus symbol occurs on the payline on the third reel of a three reel slot machine. The gaming systems generally indicates when a bonus game is initiated or triggered through one or more visual and/or audio output devices, such as the reels, lights, speakers, display screens, etc. Part of the enjoyment and excitement of playing certain gaming systems is the initiation or triggering of a bonus game, even before the player knows an amount of a bonus award won via the bonus game.
Various gaming systems are configured, on average, to pay back to players a certain percentage of the amount of money wagered by the players on plays of games on those gaming systems. The average percentage of money wagered on a particular gaming system that is paid back to players of that gaming system is typically called the average expected payback percentage, the average expected payback, or the average expected return of that gaming system. The more plays of the game(s) that are provided by a particular gaming system, the more likely that the actual payback percentage of that gaming system will approach the average expected payback percentage of that gaming system.
More specifically, for a particular gaming system, the average expected payback percentage of that gaming system is determined based on or otherwise depends on the average expected payback percentage(s) of the game(s) that that particular gaming system is configured to operate. For instance, if a gaming system is configured to operate only one game, such as a primary poker game, the average expected payback percentage of the gaming system is the same as the average expected payback percentage of the primary poker game. In another example, if the gaming system is configured to operate a primary slot game having a free spin bonus game, the average expected payback percentage of the gaming system is determined based on: (1) the average expected payback percentage of the primary slot game; and (2) the average expected payback percentage of the free spin bonus game (which is based on the average expected payout of the free spin bonus game and the likelihood of triggering the free spin bonus game). In another example, if the gaming system is configured to operate: (a) a primary poker game, and (b) a primary slot game having a free spin bonus game, the average expected payback percentage of the gaming system is determined based on: (1) the average expected payback percentage of the primary poker game; (2) the average expected payback percentage of the primary slot game; and (3) the average expected payback percentage of the free spin bonus game.
Various gaming systems are also configured with one of a plurality of different volatility levels. The volatility level of a particular gaming system is independent of the average expected payback percentage of that gaming system. Put differently, a plurality of gaming systems having the same average expected payback percentage may each have a different volatility level. For example, a first, a second, and a third gaming system each having an average expected payback percentage of 95% can be configured with a low volatility level, a medium volatility level, and a high volatility level, respectively.
More specifically, for a particular gaming system, the volatility level of that gaming system is determined based on or otherwise depends on the volatility level(s) of the game(s) that that particular gaming system is configured to operate. For instance, if a gaming system is configured to operate only one game, such as a primary poker game, the volatility level of the gaming system is the same as the volatility level of the primary poker game. In another example, if the gaming system is configured to operate a primary slot game having a free spin bonus game, the volatility level of the gaming system is determined based on: (1) the volatility level of the primary slot game; and (2) the volatility level of the free spin bonus game. In another example, if the gaming system is configured to operate: (a) a primary poker game, and (b) a primary slot game having a free spin bonus game, the volatility level of the gaming system is determined based on: (1) the volatility level of the primary poker game; (2) the volatility level of the primary slot game; and (3) the volatility level of the free spin bonus game.
Generally, for a gaming system having a designated average expected payback percentage: (a) when the gaming system is configured with a low volatility level, the gaming system provides frequent winning outcomes and associated awards to players, but many of these awards are relatively small to compensate for the relatively high occurrence of these winning outcomes (to maintain the designated average expected payback percentage); (b) when the gaming system is configured with a high volatility level, the gaming system provides substantially less frequent winning outcomes and associated awards to players, but many of these awards are much larger than those provided when the gaming system is configured with the low volatility level (to maintain the designated average expected payback percentage); and (c) when the gaming system is configured with a medium volatility level, the gaming system provides winning outcomes at a frequency between the frequencies employed when the gaming system is configured with the low and high volatility levels, and the award amounts are between those provided when the gaming system is configured with the low and high volatility levels (to maintain the designated average expected payback percentage).
Tables 1, 2, and 3 below include a example high, medium, and low volatility level paytables, respectively, for an example slot game. In this example, the high, medium, and low volatility level paytables each include the same winning symbol combinations and the same award amounts associated with those winning symbol combinations. Each winning symbol combination has a hit percentage. The hit percentage of a particular winning symbol combination is the probability of that winning symbol combination being generated and displayed for a play of the slot game. The total hit percentage of a paytable is the sum of the hit percentages of the individual winning symbol combinations included in that paytable. Thus, the total hit percentage of a paytable is the probability that at least one of the winning symbol combinations included in that paytable will be generated and displayed for a play of the slot game.
In this example, the total hit percentages of the paytables are different. More particularly, in this example, the high volatility level paytable has the lowest total hit percentage (22.5056%), the low volatility level paytable has the highest total hit percentage (36.1312%), and the medium volatility level paytable has a hit percentage (27.5053%) between the hit percentages of the high and low volatility level paytables. Accordingly, in this example, the gaming system is more likely to generate and display at least one winning symbol combination when the gaming system employs the low volatility level paytable than if either the high volatility level paytable or the medium volatility level paytable had been employed. Additionally, in this example, the gaming system is more likely to generate and display at least one winning symbol combination when the gaming system employs the medium volatility level paytable than if the high volatility level paytable had been employed and is less likely to generate and display at least one winning symbol combination than if the low volatility level paytable had been. Further, in this example, the gaming system is less likely to generate and display at least one winning symbol combination when the gaming system employs the high volatility level paytable than if either the low volatility level paytable or the medium volatility level paytable has been employed.
TABLE 1Example High Volatility Level PaytableExample High Volatility Level PaytableAward(1 CreditContributionWinning Symbol CombinationBet)Hit %(Credits)Seven/Seven/Seven/Seven/Seven10,0000.000100%0.01000Triple Bar/Triple Bar/Triple1,0000.000500%0.00500Bar/Triple Bar/Triple BarDouble Bar/Double Bar/Double1000.005000%0.00500Bar/Double Bar/Double BarSingle Bar/Single Bar/Single Bar107.500000%0.75000Cherry/Cherry/Cherry115.000000%0.15000Total Hit %22.5056%Average92.0000%ExpectedPayback %
TABLE 2Example Medium Volatility Level PaytableExample Medium Volatility Level PaytableAward(1 CreditContributionWinning Symbol CombinationBet)Hit %(Credits)Seven/Seven/Seven/Seven/Seven10,0000.000075%0.00750Triple Bar/Triple Bar/Triple1,0000.000250%0.00250Bar/Triple Bar/Triple BarDouble Bar/Double Bar/Double1000.005000%0.00500Bar/Double Bar/Double BarSingle Bar/Single Bar/Single Bar107.000000%0.70000Cherry/Cherry/Cherry120.500000%0.20500Total Hit %27.5053%Average92.0000%ExpectedPayback %
TABLE 3Example Low Volatility Level PaytableExample Low Volatility Level PaytableAward(1 CreditContributionWinning Symbol CombinationBet)Hit %(Credits)Seven/Seven/Seven/Seven/Seven10,0000.000050%0.00500Triple Bar/Triple Bar/Triple1,0000.000100%0.00100Bar/Triple Bar/Triple BarDouble Bar/Double Bar/Double1000.001000%0.00100Bar/Double Bar/Double BarSingle Bar/Single Bar/Single Bar106.130000%0.61300Cherry/Cherry/Cherry130.000000%0.30000Total Hit %36.1312%Average92.0000%ExpectedPayback %
Certain players prefer low volatility level gaming systems, other players prefer medium volatility level gaming systems, other players prefer high volatility level gaming systems, and other players do not care about the volatility levels of gaming systems.
Certain known gaming systems enable a player to partially affect the volatility level of the gaming system by enabling the player to choose the volatility level of one of the games provided by the gaming system. For example, certain known gaming systems provide a secondary game in the form of free plays of a primary game in which the gaming system enables the player to select from a plurality of different configurations, each of which is associated with a different volatility level, for the free plays. For instance, the gaming system enables the player to select one of: (a) five free plays of the primary game at a 20× multiplier, which corresponds to a high volatility level; and (b) ten free plays of the primary game at a 10× multiplier, which corresponds to a low volatility level. If the player chooses five free plays of the primary game at the 20× multiplier, the player chooses the high volatility level for the secondary game because: (i) the player chooses fewer free plays of the primary game, resulting in a low probability of winning awards; and (ii) the average magnitude of any awards won during those free plays is relatively large. If the player chooses ten free plays of the primary game at the 10× multiplier, the player chooses the lower volatility level because: (i) the player chooses more free plays of the primary game, resulting in a higher probability of winning awards; and (ii) the average magnitude of any awards won during those free plays is relatively small.
Gaming systems typically do not enable players to select or modify the volatility level of a gaming system. Rather, the volatility level of the gaming system is predetermined by the gaming system manufacturer and the casino or other gaming establishment. While some players are able to determine the volatility level of a gaming system by studying the paytables of the gaming system, many players are not able to do so (or not quickly able to do so). Thus, known gaming systems do not directly visually and non-verbally inform players of the volatility levels of the gaming systems. Known gaming systems also do not directly visually and non-verbally inform players of the comparative volatility levels of multiple gaming systems in a casino or other gaming establishment.
It is thus often very difficult for certain players who enjoy playing gaming systems having certain volatility levels (such as low volatility, medium volatility, or high volatility levels) to select gaming systems that match the players' desired level of volatility.
Accordingly, there is a need to solve this problem.